Robbie kicked and flailed at Sportacus, trying any means to push back his assailant, but he already knew he'd lost the fight. Sportacus grabbed fistfuls of the front of Robbie's vest, securing his advantage. The crystal flashed and beeped and Sportacus shot a bewildered glare down at it before returning his full attention to the man in his body.
Robbie mustered up a meek grin that strained around the edges. "Someone's in trouble," he squeaked. Only one guess who it was.
"Get away from him!" Trixie shouted, running towards the entangled men and leading the charge for the rest of the kids.
"Leave him alone!" Stephanie yelled, and Stingy and Pixel raised their voices with hers. In a stampede they swerved around the hole in the ground and all together threw themselves at Sportacus. Their combined onrush was enough to dislodge him from his seat over Robbie and knock him to the ground.
Robbie sat up and stared at the scene unfolding before him. Trixie and Stephanie had Sportacus' arms locked while the boys focused on pinning his legs. Sportacus looked just as confused by the interference as Robbie.
"What are you kids doing!" Sportacus grunted.
"We won't let you hurt Sportacus!" Trixie said.
"He has to be stopped!" Sportacus squirmed and nearly heaved himself upright until the kids managed to press him down again. He grated out an aggravated noise while the frustration reddened his face and screwed up his expression all the more. "Can't you see he's dangerous?"
"Sportacus may have wrecked my car, but he's still my friend," Stingy declared.
"That's right," Pixel said. "No matter how weird Sportacus has been acting he's all our friend and we'll always be there for him."
"Yeah," Trixie said, "maybe Sportacus hasn't been the coolest today, but if he needs our help he can count on us."
Stephanie looked over at where Robbie still sat in a stunned silence. "Go on, Sportacus, get going! We'll deal with Robbie."
That was enough to snap Robbie out of his spell. He got up on shaky legs but continued to stand there, unable to look away from the kids dogpiling the agitated man in the purple suit. All thoughts had abandoned him, leaving him dumb and dazed. "Where should I go?" he asked.
"The airship," Stephanie said, then had to double down on her efforts to keep Sportacus restrained as the mention of the dirigible set the man to thrashing with renewed vigor. "Go!"
Robbie dragged his feet, taking one last look before making himself move. He shifted into an awkward jog and left them all behind him.
It wasn't difficult to find the airship on such a clear day. Robbie squinted up at it with a frown. "Just perfect," he said to no one. "A lot of good it does me without a ladder."
Something shifted on the silvery underside of the airship and within seconds a spindly rope ladder cascaded down on top of Robbie's head. He fumbled with the swinging thing until he got it under control. His heart skipped as he planted a foot on the first rung and began his flustered climb up. It was a small mercy that with Sportacus' body he had just enough strength remaining to make the ascent in record time.
"No," Sportacus moaned, "you're letting him get away!"
"That's enough, Robbie," Stephanie scolded him. "You need to give up catching Sportacus once and for all."
"That'll never happen," Stingy said.
"Let's push him back in the hole," Trixie suggested.
"Guys, stop!" Ziggy gasped, running on his last legs and late to the party. "Don't— be mean— to Robbie!" He collapsed on the ground, totally winded. Pixel jumped up and went to check on him.
"Take it easy, Ziggy. Robbie was seriously going after Sportacus just now, we had to stop him."
"Robbie's always got it out for Sportacus," Trixie said with an eye towards the man. "He doesn't know how to do anything else."
"But he helped me!" Ziggy exclaimed. "When Sportacus sent me off the teeter-totter, Robbie saved me! He's not all bad, guys, please?"
Stephanie relaxed her hold and sat back, passing an unsure glance between Ziggy and Sportacus. "He really did that?" she asked. Ziggy nodded. Stephanie gave Trixie a look and the pigtailed girl reluctantly surrendered her hold as well.
"That doesn't sound like Robbie," Stingy muttered, but unclasped his arms from around the man's legs. He checked how his headband was fitting on his head after the group tackle and inspected the ray gun for any new scratches. "Sportacus hasn't been sounding like himself much either, though."
"Yeah," Ziggy said with a sigh.
The glum sentiment was shared by all. Sportacus sat up slowly while the kids watched his every move, but the fight had gone out of everybody. At least, until Ziggy took a second look at Stingy.
"Hey, wait, Stingy, what are you doing with my ray gun?"
"Your ray gun?" Stingy scoffed. "Don't you mean my ray gun? After all, finders keepers."
"Don't you mean Robbie's ray gun?" Trixie prodded Stingy in the side and he hopped to his feet to scamper away from her. Ziggy went after him. Sportacus rose with the rest of the kids but could not be quick about it after taking so many knocks all day. He couldn't begin to chase the kids around to get the machine when Stingy wouldn't stop moving out of Ziggy's reach.
"Kids, be careful with that—"
"I barely even got to play with it!" Ziggy complained. "Why do you get to have everything now?"
"Because I'm not the one who lost it. Besides," Stingy said, posing with his hand to his forehead, "it's a matching set."
"Then I want the headband too!"
"Nuh-uh, it's mine."
"Guys, they're not toys," Pixel said, "stop messing around."
"They belong to Robbie," Stephanie said, "it's time to give them back, Stingy."
"Not to Robbie," Pixel said, shaking his head. Stephanie put her hands on her hips.
"But Pixel—"
"Go on, Ziggy, show Stingy what you're made of if he isn't going to share," Trixie egged on the squabbling boys. "Who's going to get it?"
Ziggy made a grab forward and caught the barrel of the ray gun but Stingy held firmly to the grip. They tugged and heaved against each other and shuffled around on the sidewalk. They both pulled strange faces as they fought each other for possession of the device, eyes locked in a heated battle.
"Let me have it, Stingy!"
"Fine!" Stingy snapped. He pulled the trigger on the ray gun.
BZZZTTT
Something passed between Stingy and Ziggy like an arc of electricity. All struggling ceased and they each took a half step back as though repelled. The boys stood there staring at each other, deep in a trance. Everyone held still with them while the seconds dragged by with no further development.
"Uh, guys?" Stephanie exchanged a glance with Pixel. "Everything okay?"
Ziggy blinked rapidly. His eyebrows shot up and his mouth dropped open. Pointing at Stingy he screamed.
"Wait a second, that's me!" His shriek stuck in his throat and he raised his arms to look at himself. He screamed again. "I'm— Ziggy?!"
The screeching revelation set off a twitch in Sportacus' eyebrows and he closed his eyes against the tic. He could feel another headache coming on…
Stingy looked down at himself and up at Ziggy. He felt the headband around his forehead and held the ray gun up close to his nose so that he had to cross his eyes. His face lit up with wonder.
"Woah, am I inside Stingy? This is so cool!"
"It's not cool," Ziggy shouted, hopping up and down. "You can't be me, I'm me! I don't want to be you! Get out, get-out-get-out-give-it-back-give-it-give-it!"
The smaller boy rushed at Stingy and grabbed for the ray gun. Stingy tried to swing around to block but couldn't evade completely. He stretched his arms out in a vain attempt at keeping the device out of Ziggy's reach, pointing it at Trixie. Somewhere in the middle of the tussle he squeezed the trigger.
BZZZTTT
Ziggy jumped back from Stingy, looking from him to Trixie with wild eyes. "Who am I now?" he asked. Stingy and Trixie stood facing each other for a long moment. The girl's eyes came back from staring off to nowhere first and her face broke out in a wide grin.
"Look at me now!" Trixie laughed and waved her arms. "I'm Trixie now, this is awesome!"
Stingy was looking himself over again. He tapped the ray gun in the palm of his hand and cast a low-lidded gaze at Ziggy. "Looks like you're sharing now, Stingy." Ziggy's face went red in a pout and he stomped his feet.
"Trixie, get out!"
"I would if I knew how, you think I want to be you?"
Stephanie's eyes tracked between Stingy and Ziggy, Ziggy and Trixie, Trixie and Stingy— her hands drifted up to her head to massage her temples. Sportacus sighed in sympathy. Pixel's expression remained blank for the longest time as he looked at his friends until finally the light bulb went off and his eyes widened. He looked at Sportacus with a new understanding, meeting the man's long suffering gaze.
"Oooh… I get it now."